This week has seen Yeovil Town engaged in a sort of an uncomfortable Groundhog Day, where as the legendary film depicts, there is a feeling that what we are all experiencing is a repeat of what we've seen before. We may be in September 2016, but it would be possible to pull out certain issues from previous months and years, reword the news items or forum postings from those days very slightly, save and republish and no-one would notice the difference.

The club have had a planning application rejected. In fairness, on this occasion I had presumed this was one that I thought would be allowed through by SSDC, after their Case Officer gave it the thumbs up in the planning report. However, whilst the Case Officer stands as a salaried employee at the Council, those who sit on the committee itself must be elected every few years, and so end up being mindful of the wider electorate, and of the feelings local residents may have on certain subjects, or of the hot potato they might have to deal with if a few years after a Thorne Lane development is opened, a pedestrian gets knocked down, or a problem manifests with the site itself.

Early hints from the committee hearing suggest that those councillors whose wards are closest to Huish Park or the Lufton site were the ones who spoke against it, whilst those who are responsible for regions further away were more happy to support it. Equally, it was the local Brympton Parish Council and the Lufton residents who raised the biggest 'noise' about the application - at SSDC level, feedback from the local Council departments was far more favourable. My theory on this isn't particularly scientific, but it may be that the club need to look at their working relationship with the immediate local parish, rather than necessarily pointing the finger at the wider realms of SSDC.

It's important because the next time they put in an application which may be seen as credible, then they need to recognise that local residents need to be won over, just as much as football supporters. One of the common themes of the Lufton residents letters were that they did not feel they'd been consulted with prior to the planning application, with all of the focus from the 'open days' the club held being on the Huish Park land developments.

So where does it leave the club? As I see it, the main Huish Park development plans - which have now been on pause for twelve months already - cannot proceed with credibility unless the club have replacement pitches for the two training pitches that sit behind the away end. National Planning Policy here is clear - if you concrete over sporting facilities, you have to replace them on a like-for-like basis. If you don't, then Sport England, part of the Government's Department of Culture, Media and Sport, have the power to block the application. On top of that, part of the Huish Park site is deemed to be Public Open Space, and another part is operated by the club under a leasehold agreement. Without that also being replaced, again the application wouldn't get very far. So unless the club have already allowed for the possibility of the Thorne Lane application failing, then it would seem that the main Huish Park plans will sit mothballed for a while.

We are now five years and six months since the club made its original announcement that they planned to build a 3,500 seater stand at Huish Park at the away end of the ground, complete with lavish artist's impressions of the stand itself and the adjoining retail park. Chairman John Fry has even said in an interview that the origins of the planning applications date back to 2007, whilst the now defunct Invest in Yeovil website and brochure dated from June 2006. At some stage, the club has to consider whether its chasing the right dream.

On the pitch, the infurating sight of the League Two table after Saturday's defeat against Blackpool and the general woefulness of the defeat. Landing back in the relegation zone, in 23rd place, wasn't part of the 2016-17 plan, but then again it wasn't what we wanted for 2014-15 or 2015-16 either.

The inevitable reaction is to hope that Blackpool was a one-off and that the 23rd spot is a brief low point that will soon be laughed at. We've played the teams in 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 11th and 12th so the hope will be that we're victims of a lop-sided fixture list that may right itself in due course. However, I'm acutely aware that we were clinging to such hopes 12 months ago. The longer we stayed 23rd/24th, the more the factors in our demise began to look like excuses. Paul Sturrock had a point that getting the likes of Ben Tozer and Kevin Dawson fit did end up making a huge difference to our season. However, after a while the question had to be asked "so that's the problem, what's the solution?"

Yeovil fans are generally more patient than those of many other Football League clubs. However, it is important psychologically speaking that we don't spend too much time in that part of the table, and that performances like Blackpool become the exception rather than part of a pattern. Apart from the free agent market, we have very limited scope where the squad can be changed if it does need improvements, and I suspect that with 24 players on the club's books (Darren declared in pre-season he wanted a squad of 20 players) that we are close to the limits that would be allowed within the playing budget.

So we are probably working with roughly what we've got, as well as hoping that the likes of Darren Ward and Francois Zoko get back into full fitness and can play a part for us this season, given their steadying influence in the side had a fair bit to do with why our form improved during the second half of last season. Again, there's an element of Groundhog Day about that, in that like last season it's a couple of the most experienced players that we've lost.

I think like a number of other fans, I'd also like Darren to reconsider his use of the 4-3-3 formation. I think it's a tactic that works well when we've got a heavy amount of possession, but when the opposition take over the ball, or when they're inclined to pump long balls down the channels, we can end up looking very open at the back. Take a look back at the way our left flank was cut open during Blackpool's second and third goals and there were large gaps for the visitors to exploit. Sometimes formations have shelf lifes to them, when opposition scouts become wise to them, and it's only the teams at the top of the table, who are dominant in play and possession, who can get away with sticking out the same shape each week and be so strong that their opponents still can't break them down.

The previous case officer did give a lift to the club's revamped development hopes, but I felt at the time that such lift was still out of sync with the albeit improved proposition. Similarly on the pitch I saw the Luton game and that gave me a significant lift which has fallen just as flat with results since.

Both situations are relative to each other and both affect the mood which in turn affects both situations which affects the mood. And indeed that perpetuation is long-standing.

Putting aside all the debate - often intense - about direction and key events such as land-split over the last decade or so, even without a multitude of contentions and differing opinion it seems that we are now in a stumbling-on mood which simply means time for change for its own sake, irrespective of perception about the right and wrong of club direction.

10/09/2016 00:43:17

John Mason said ...

Well done Taff you don't know a good millionaire who is interested in investing in YTFC because I am sure that the two of you could do a good job running the club very successfully
10/09/2016 07:50:35

Camberwick green said ...

Still early days but 4 league defeats in a row, with only one goal scored, courtesy of a bad back pass at that, is not very encouraging. Normally, an odd goal defeat at Mansfield would be no great cause for concern. However, the fact they went down to 10 men after just 7 minutes, the fact we dominated possession and yet they had considerably more shots than we did ARE a cause for concern.
No need to panic, but there are clearly issues that need to be addressed.
10/09/2016 14:35:49

Stewart Barnes said ...

I will always support Yeovil,but gave up going after 40 years
Nearly 3 years ago.
Every Saturday since it seems we lose most games especially
At home,so I will not be returning.
The club seems to have begun a slide since the Championship,and regrettably sooner or later we shall be minnows again.
So can't see why the ground needs developing for a couple of thousand loyal fans whom I admire,I have been there myself.
Hopefully we shall turn it round.

10/09/2016 17:20:21

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